Bus Passenger Survey autumn Merseytravel (Merseyside PTE area) Contact: Murray Leader, Research Team, Passenger Focus Fleetbank House, 2-6 Salisbury Square, London, EC4Y 8JX Tel: 0300 123 0843 Email: murray.leader@passengerfocus.org.uk 13 February 2014
Introduction Overview This is a survey of the journey experiences of bus passengers Results are representative at local transport authority area level. The survey was carried out between 8 September and 1 December 2013. The number of survey responses for Mersey PTE area was 1,764. At authority-type level, results are the aggregate of the authority areas surveyed of that type. Each contributes in proportion to its annual number of passenger journeys. Further detail is provided in the final two slides of this presentation. 2
Areas covered by the survey Passenger Transport Executive (PTEs) areas Centro (West Midlands PTE) Merseytravel (Merseyside PTE) Nexus (Tyne and Wear PTE) South Yorkshire Transport for Greater Manchester West Yorkshire Metro (West Yorks PTE) Unitary authorities Blackpool Milton Keynes Northumberland County Reading Buses services (results included with Unitary total) Tees Valley Group Thurrock West England Partnership York Two-Tier authorities Abellio's Surrey services (results included within Two-Tier total) Devon Essex Kent Lancashire Norfolk Suffolk 3
Overall satisfaction (1) 89 87 86 87 82 84 94 94 90 85 82 84 89 86 82 95 94 93 88 83 84 85 81 82 93 90 91 83 79 80 88 83 84 94 92 93 Q. Overall, taking everything into account from start to end of the bus journey, how satisfied were you with your bus journey? 4
Overall satisfaction (2) 89 87 86 84 82 81 92 90 90 92 89 84 90 88 86 85 91 91 - - - 88 83 84 83 79 80 91 88 88 89 83 85 89 86 86 87 82 83 85 76 80 Q. Overall, taking everything into account from start to end of the bus journey, how satisfied were you with your bus journey? 5
Satisfaction with value for money (VFM) 62 55 56 55 49 52 69 61 61 60 51 55 66 60 59 63 54 57 58 49 52 68 60 61 62 52 56 65 57 58 Q. How satisfied were you with the value for money of your journey? Chart shows 6
Value for money: reasons for the rating given 2013 reasons - those satisfied with VFM 2013 reasons - those not satisfied with VFM (includes neither/nor) 2013 reasons - those satisfied with VFM 2013 reasons - those not satisfied with VFM (includes neither/nor) Q. What had the biggest influence on the 'value for money' rating you gave in the previous question? 7
Satisfaction with the bus stop 87 86-91 88-82 76 76 84 78 78 78 71 72 77 76-80 75 70 82 79 73 84 83-88 87-77 72 73 79 75 73 72 67 66 75 72-77 73 69 80 78 72 Q. Thinking about the bus stop itself, how satisfied were you with the following? A) Its distance from your journey start e.g. home/shops; B) The convenience/accessibility of its location within that road/street; C) Its general condition/standard of maintenance; D) Its freedom from graffiti/vandalism; E) Its freedom from litter; F) The information provided at the bus stop; G) Your personal safety whilst at the bus stop; H) Overall, how satisfied were you with the bus stop? 8
Presence of bus stop facilities Q. Which of the following were provided at the stop where you caught the bus? 9
Waiting for the bus Satisfaction with 'wait time' and 'punctuality' 80 75 75 77 73 73 77 71 73 76 69 72 Q. How satisfied were you with the following: A) The length of time you had to wait for the bus; B) The punctuality of the bus. How actual wait time compared with expectation Q. Thinking about the time you waited for the bus was it: much longer than you expected; a little longer than you expected; about the time you expected; a little less time than you expected; a lot longer than you expected. 10
Whether passengers checked bus arrival times How/what checked (%) - Where/whether passengers checked bus arrival times (%) - Q. Did you check any of the following to find out when the bus was meant to arrive? 11
Bus satisfaction on arrival at the bus stop 87 85 81 84 79 78 90 89 88 91 91 87 84 82 81 78 75 73 89 89 88 89 89 88 Q. Thinking about when the bus arrived, please indicate how satisfied you were with the following? A. Route/destination information on the outside of the bus B. The cleanliness and condition of the outside of the bus C. The ease of getting on to and off of the bus D. The length of time it took to board the bus 12
On the bus (part 1) 82 77 75 67 63 61 85 84 79 80 77 74 76 72 70 65 60 60 85 83 82 76 72 72 Q. Thinking about whilst you were on the bus, please indicate how satisfied you were with the following? A) The cleanliness and condition of the inside of the bus; B) The information provided inside the bus; C) The availability of seating or space to stand; D) The comfort of the seats; 13
On the bus (part 2) 78 71-84 82 82 81 78 76 86 84 80 74 68-83 80 82 78 75 75 82 79 79 Q. Thinking about whilst you were on the bus, please indicate how satisfied you were with the following? E) The amount of personal space you had around you; F) Provision of grab rails to stand/move within the bus; G) The temperature inside the bus; H) Your personal security whilst on the bus. 14
Satisfaction with the bus driver 93 91 91 89 88 87 71 64 65 72 66 67 75 69 69 77 74 72 89 84 83 91 89 90 88 85 87 67 60 62 69 63 65 74 69 68 75 70 71 87 82 82 Q. Thinking about the driver, please indicate how satisfied you were with each of the following? A) How near to the kerb/stop the bus stopped; B) The driver s appearance; C) The greeting/welcome you got from the driver; D) The helpfulness and attitude of the driver; E) The time the driver gave you to get to your seat; F) Smoothness/freedom from jolting during the journey; G) The safety of the driving (i.e. appropriateness of speed, driver concentrating). 15
On-bus journey time Satisfaction with on-bus journey time 2013 2012 87 90 86 84 Q. How satisfied were you with the length of time your journey on the bus took? What affected journey time 2013 results Q. Was the length of time your journey took affected by any of the following? [note: multiple responses permitted] 2013 results 16
Worry or concern from other passengers' behaviour (1) Incidence of concern - all passengers Incidence of concern - for different passenger groups - Q. Did other passengers' behaviour give you cause to worry or make you feel uncomfortable during your journey 17
Worry or concern from other passengers' behaviour (2) Reason passengers had concern or worry Q. Which of the following were the reasons for this? (the passengers' behaviour giving cause to worry or feel uncomfortable) 18
Method of buying ticket (fare payers only) 50 43 43 12 19 18 9 8 6 15 18 19 8 10 9 3 1 2 2 3 3 51 44 45 12 15 15 7 6 5 14 17 17 9 10 11 4 5 4 3 3 3 Q. How did you buy that ticket or pass? 19
Ticket format (includes free-pass holders) 2012 results 2012 results Q. In what format was your ticket? 20
Journey purpose 30 29 35 13 9 12 31 33 27 10 11 11 8 8 7 8 9 9 34 35 33 13 14 13 25 25 26 11 10 10 8 6 7 10 9 10 Q. What is the main purpose of your bus journey today? 21
Reason chose bus 2012 results 2012 results Q. What was the main reason you chose to take the bus for your journey today? 22
Availability of info inside bus 2012 results 2012 results Q. Where any of these items of information present on the bus? A) A map of the bus route/journey times; B) Audio announcements e.g. saying the next stop; C) An electronic display e.g. showing the next bus stop;, D) Information about tickets/fares; E) A timetable; F) Details of how to make a complaint. 23
What can be improved What proportion (%) suggested an improvement Suggested an improvement Mersey 39 PTE 36 Said nothing could be improved 7 5 Q. If something could have been improved on your journey, what would it have been? What improvement areas were suggested (of those who in total suggested an improvement) Bus driver Bus stop 7 15 Mersey 6 14 PTE Fares/tickets 6 5 Frequency/routes 12 16 Info about routes 7 9 Journey times 4 4 Design/comfort/condition 28 28 Passenger behaviour 6 5 Punctuality 12 14 Other 3 5 Q. If something could have been improved on your journey, what would it have been? NOTE: MORE THAN ONE ANSWER PERMISSIBLE
Further detail (1) Overview of methodology The survey has been designed to provide results that are representative of bus passenger journeys made within each area, that is at the level of a transport authority. The sampling method is 'systematic', derived from the list of the area s bus services and the times that they run (sourced from ITO World Ltd which makes available the data used on Traveline). The bus service/start times selected from the sampling process formed the start point for a three-hour shift, during which field workers made as many return trips as possible on that selected service. They discuss the survey with the boarders of that bus service and give all passengers the chance to participate; those wishing to do so were given a self-completion questionnaire to complete after their journey, together with a reply-paid envelope. Fieldwork was conducted between 8 September and 1 December 2013 (excluding the half term holiday period). Services available for selection were those running between 6am to 10pm, seven days of the week; only school bus services were systematically excluded. The survey was conducted among passengers aged 16 or over. The response data were weighted in two stages. The first stage was to weight to the age and gender profile of bus passengers within each area; as there is no available data at area level on the age/gender profile of passengers this was estimated by recording the profile of passengers during on two occasions during each fieldwork shift. The second stage of weighting was at area level to ensure that in the final data each participating area (within the survey) was represented in proportion to its total annual journey volumes. Passenger Focus was supported by BDRC Continental Ltd in conducting the autumn 2013 survey. There is an accompanying methodology document that provides more detail on the survey process, available at www.passengerfocus.org.uk. 25
Further detail (2) Interpreting results Throughout the report, behavioural results are based on all survey respondents, and passengers opinion ratings are based on those respondents that gave an opinion. All results are based on weighted values. In the report where numbers in brackets shown after the question/category text are the actual numbers of passenger responses generating the answer value shown. For ease of use BPS data are reported rounded to whole numbers, that is without decimal places. Note: all satisfied results are the sum of the very satisfied and fairly satisfied and calculated on the underlying values which include decimal places. As a consequence these true summations can appear up to one per cent different to the sum of the rounded very satisfied and fairly satisfied numbers. Percentages quoted at 'grouped area' level that is: PTEs; Unitary authorities; or Two-Tier authorities, are the aggregate scores achieved across all the areas surveyed in that group. Each individual area counts towards the area group aggregate score in proportion to the number of passenger journeys made annually in that area. Waiver Passenger Focus has taken care to ensure that the information contained in the BPS is correct. However, no warranty, express or implied, is given as to its accuracy and Passenger Focus does not accept any liability for error or omission. Passenger Focus is not responsible for how the information is used, how it is interpreted or what reliance is placed on it. Passenger Focus does not guarantee that the information contained in BPS is fit for any particular purpose. 26